Elsewhere, Dr Crippen discusses the now real prospect of Labour winning the next general election. And, as always, the NHS is central to the arguments.

Back to the grind. The weather does not matter as much now, though irritatingly it is sunny. I was on edge during the last week of the holiday, worrying about how hard it was going to...

A lunchtime phone call from a godson. He qualified as a doctor last year. He has just coming to the end of his F1 year. He wants to be a surgeon. A properly trained surgeon. There are a total of...

An odd report from the BBC today. Naturally, it is provocative. No surprise there. Probably, it is rubbish. Not much surprise there. The report is based upon some odd remarks, probably taken out...

My aged friend Wat Tyler is coming out of retirement and even now furiously re-jigging his c.v. before he heads up the M1 to Leeds to apply for a job that involves "qualitative analysis" and pays around £30k a year. Take a look here.

The whipping boy “But there isn’t any,” said Alice when the Mad-hatter offered her a glass of wine. Morale amongst family doctors is lower than ever. Not a day goes by without us being subjected to a tirade of criticism from the media who take...

Another look at the careless use of language that so often offends the mentally ill ... we thought back to the books we were brought up with. Little Black Sambo; Noddy always being chased by golliwogs and so on. We also took it all for granted but it...

Courses: we have offered our university-accredited courses in minor illness management since 1997. You can attend the two-day Pharmacology course or the three-day Clinical Skills course, or combine the two and then go on to complete our six-month...

Any more good ideas? My drug-sodden old friend Wat Tyler at Burning our Money has just explained in a few hundred words how NHS resources are being squandered. Read Earning your pharmacist an honest crust Tyler may not know, but will not be...